Saru Gallery
       Japanese Prints & Japanese Paintings

Biography Kônen, Kimura 光年 木村 (1877 - ?)

Kimura Kônen was born in Kanazawa in 1877. He studied with the Tokyo painter Yamamoto Kôichi, who had been trained in the Rimpa style. After a while he started studying with Suzuki Shônen (1848-1918), and he became his closest disciple. Evidence of their close cooperation are a number of joint works, including some painted with Shônen's son Shôsen (1872-1924). Kônen reflected his respect for his teachers by combining one character from each of their names to form his own (Kô - nen). Kônen's paintings often resemble Shônen's work.
The date of his death is unclear: paintings dated 1916 are known, but that is all there is.

References
Araki, Tsune (ed), Dai Nihon shôga meika taikan, Tokyo 1975 (1934), p. 614
Berry (et al.), Paul, Unexplored Avenues of Japanese Painting, The Hakutakuan Collection, Seattle 2001, p. 184